


and then there was cosplayer mark

by chaehyungwonies



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Halloween, M/M, One Shot, Sequel, mark babysitter au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 08:48:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16472405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaehyungwonies/pseuds/chaehyungwonies
Summary: johnny looks over with that warm comforting smile of his. "i know it’s only halloween and it’s pretty much just a reason for businesses to earn money with cosplay and candy profits,” mark laughs here, “but it’s a fun time spent enjoying the neighborhood with loved ones if nothing else. you deserve that.”[ in which mark spends halloween with the zhong family ; set almost a year after "and then there was babysitter mark" ]





	and then there was cosplayer mark

**Author's Note:**

> first thing first: the responses to babysitter mark has been so kind omg ;~; im super glad ppl liked it! all the comments make me wanna write more and share more of mark and the kids in this au
> 
> on that note i have like an entire universe built around this zhong family now. in this sequel of sorts i included hints to little things that i may (hopefully) expand on later. in the meantime, since this is set almost a year later i will give a summary of what happened between when babysitter mark ends and when cosplayer mark starts (early-mid october):
> 
> first off, mark is a year below yukhei (august 99 would put him in school with 00 line because school starts aug/sept). during the six months until summer mark changed his major to music with a focus on composition and the elders all worked on their theses to graduate!! by the summer nct is a group--it's the 127 ensemble but in this au they are just "nct". they go out to canada to do a north american west coast tour. the zhong brothers are with them for the last couple weeks in socal but yukhei follows along from the start. this fic then starts about two-three months after nct comes back from that tour.
> 
> hopefully i will write more about the tour adventures bc i have lots of ideas for that and then things after this even heh but until then!! happy halloween and stay spooky!~

“What are you gonna be for Halloween, Mark?”

 

Mark looks up from his computer and pulls the headphones from over his ears to rest them around his neck. Jisung sits across from him with excited wide eyes, a lollipop in his mouth—probably stolen from the candy bowl the Zhong parents set up earlier in the week—as he waits for Mark’s answer. The red-head—only so since last week thanks to preparing for a music video filming—shrugs to himself and closes the lid to his laptop to give the young kid all his attention.

 

“I don’t exactly know what I’m doing on Halloween so I can’t say I’m gonna be anything special at all,” he scratches at the back of his neck before turning the question on Jisung. “What are you gonna be?”

 

Jisung giggles and shakes his head as he wags his finger with mock disapproval. “Yukhei told me I’m not allowed to let you know yet.”

 

Mark huffs at his boyfriend’s name but smiles all the same. “I’m sure Chenle will accidentally let it slip.”

 

“Chenle can’t keep his mouth shut about anything near you.”

 

Hearing his name, the aforementioned boy looks up from his studies and frowns. “Why are you two talking about me?”

 

“It’s only nice things,” Mark replies, standing from his chair to walk over and check on Chenle’s homework. He pats the younger’s head and laughs when Chenle grumbles to himself at the action. “Are you excited for Halloween?”

 

“I’m not telling you what we’re gonna be; Yukhei threatened to take half my candy if I do.”

 

Mark pouts and plops down in the spare chair next to Chenle. “Wow, I can’t believe he’s done this to me.”

 

“You’ll find out if you come along with us,” calls Jaemin from upstairs, making his way down from whatever he was doing. Mark looks up and waves him over to sit at the table with his brothers, shaking his head at the eldest’s bright pink hair.

 

“I told you guys already I’m busy working with NCT on our music video all into the end of October.”

 

Jisung frowns as he rests his head in his hands. “It’s New Culture Technical, right?”

 

“Neo Culture Technology,” replies Mark with a hearty laugh. “I know it’s a bit of an odd name but it works. I’m glad we found it during the tour.”

 

Jaemin pulls out a hefty textbook and sighs. “I miss being in America.”

 

“Yeah, probably because while you were there you had no school.” The teenager grins at Mark’s words before returning to his homework with loud groans. “Let me know if you need any help over there; I’m probably going to leave when Hei comes over and you know how much help he is.”

 

The trio of brothers snicker at Mark’s words but Jaemin does call on Mark for help, allowing Mark to flex his English skills for an hour or so before Yukhei’s arrival. Yukhei makes a grand entrance as always, rushing over to the table where the four sit as if he hasn’t seen them in weeks when he was just over two days ago. He gives Mark a quick kiss on the cheek before giving each of his cousins short hugs in greeting. Returning to Mark, Yukhei pulls the shorter man from his seat, takes it, and then plops Mark down on his lap. Nothing new to any of the boys but Mark still can’t help the blush that consumes his face at the action.

 

Being openly affectionate with Yukhei is something so new for Mark, even if it’s been just over 10 months since they’ve been together. The summer trip to Vancouver and down the western coast of the continent gave Mark and Yukhei the time and place to get closer both emotionally and physically. In a less conservative environment, simple things like hand-holding and kissing didn’t come with as much anxiety as usual. Mark enjoyed being able to be more publicly affectionate with Yukhei, even if it did come at the cost of his fellow bandmates teasing him consistently for it. The stresses that come with tour weren’t avoidable but Mark still feels very lucky to have had Yukhei at his side through it all as the band—and the Zhong kids for about a couple weeks—made their way down south over the two months.

 

On campus, Mark and Yukhei can still be affectionate, maybe not as blatantly so with long kisses or Mark sitting in Yukhei’s lap but holding hands while walking each other to class and small cheek kisses before parting ways could slide on by without much fuss. Otherwise they mostly keep to themselves if not for slight fear of prosecution outside of school but also given they barely have much time together, what with Yukhei in his senior year and Mark working on more music with his band.

 

“How’s the music video filming going?” asks Yukhei, leaning his head on Mark’s shoulder as he wraps his arms around Mark’s waist.

 

“Haven’t gotten there yet, we’re still fleshing out the concept.”

 

Yukhei nods oddly against Mark’s shoulder. “Do I get special behind-the-scene privileges to come watch when you guys do start filming?”

 

Mark laughs and twists in his boyfriend’s arms to kiss his forehead. “You’re too cute, you know?”

 

“Are you buttering me up for the rejection?”

 

“No.”

 

“Yes you are, I can feel it.”

 

“Please don’t flirt at the table while I’m doing homework,” Jaemin whines as he face-plants into his textbook. “It’s distractingly disgusting and I need to focus.”

 

“And Mark, you said you were leaving after Yukhei came anyway!”

 

Mark lifts his wrist to inspect his watch at Chenle’s words. “I have a little bit of time to spare before I have to see Taeyong and Sicheng.”

 

Yukhei pinches Mark’s side. “You were planning to leave? Then go, don’t waste your time here, you have more important things to do.”

 

“Spending time with you is important to me.”

 

“I know,” they share a small tender kiss before Yukhei unceremoniously shoves Mark off his lap, “but Taeyong and Sicheng will murder you if you’re not there on time. Go on now.”

 

Mark leaves—not without saying goodbye to the kids and telling Yukhei to text him—but there’s something about how he dreads leaving this second family of his that makes Taeyong ask if Mark was cock-blocked before coming over to the recording studio. Even though the question has been asked many times before and is essentially a joke whenever Mark isn’t 15 minutes early to meet ups, Mark still can’t help but blush at the question as he stammers a small _no_. Taeil laughs and pats his head before passing along a stack of papers littered with choreography sketches, cinematography amendments and more.

 

Johnny is the leader when it comes to recording the music video; he has a keen eye behind the camera like no one else in the group. Taeyong and Doyoung situate their time on fashion, leader TY on clothing and Doyoung on hair colors, hence Mark’s newly dyed red locks. The song they plan to record is one Mark wrote during the summer tour, something the group only performed during the last few concerts in San Diego. Taeyong helped write, too—all the members join in on songs here and there—but it’s mostly Mark’s song and they all know that given he wrote it with Yukhei in mind. Yukhei doesn’t quite know that yet though and it’s been a huge struggle to keep that fact away from him until the music video drops.

 

“Do you have a halloween costume planned?” asks Donghyuck during a recording break after Jaehyun’s finished his lines.

 

Taeyong nods as he plops into a cushioned seat at the mixing table, a warm smile on his lips. “I’m going as Peter Pan.”

 

“And I’m fortunate enough to be Wendy,” grumble Jaehyun as he sits beside the group’s leader. “No one else said yes and you know how he gets pouty.”

 

Doyoung laughs while shaking his head. “Oh, I know. I’m not too sure what I’ll be, probably a witch, but I think Sicheng and Jungwoo said they were going to be a vampire couple.”

 

“Yeah,” Jungwoo confirms as he walks into the studio room with a shy smile. Sicheng comes in after him, standing close behind the younger man. Mark smiles and reminds himself to ask when Sicheng finally decided to do something about his slowly growing crush.

 

“We’re going to be fancy vampires all bloody but super posh.” Sicheng explains as he pats Jungwoo’s shoulder, leaving his hand there for a moment longer before turning attention to Mark. “How about you? I’m sure you and Yukhei have the couple’s costume of the century planned.”

 

Mark stares at his hands. “Ah, I’m not sure if I’m going to celebrate this year.”

 

The silence that permeates the room is deafening and Mark clears his throat if only to keep the speechless words the others are throwing at him at bay. “I think I might still be editing some of our recordings that night. Final mixing for the title track and maybe some pitching for _Summer 127_.”

 

Taeil frowns. “You planned to spend Halloween—a free day to dress up and steal kid’s candy—in the studio because you want to stay late working on something that’s keeping you away from your family?”

 

“It’s _for_ Yukhei; I wouldn’t say it’s keeping me from him. He’s always with me in the song as are the kids in a way I guess.”

 

The silence that permeates the room this time is more in shock. Mark doesn’t quite get why everyone seems so surprised until he mentally backtracks and realizes he indirectly—well, directly, called Yukhei family. There’s a million implications from that simple reply and Mark can already feel his chest burning with the circulating thoughts about _Yukhei is my family, The Zhong’s are family, I_ love _Yukhei_. The red-head stands up with shaking hands and fumbles around for a pair of over-the-ear headphones, slipping them on with a mumble about wanting to listen to the bass line for his song again before their next recording session.

 

Mark is the last one out the studio, Taeyong leaving before him with a demand for Mark to text him once he’s done workshopping for the night. The young rapper nods mindlessly, brain trapped in an endless cycle of notes and rhythms struggling to dance together to create the music he hears in his head. The kick drum is too tinny, not booming enough like Yukhei’s deep voice; the synth pads are too harsh, not warm enough like Yukhei’s bright laughter. Mark pulls off the headphones with a deep sigh, raking long fingers through his matted hair and he falls into his chair with dreary eyes.

 

The biggest struggle with music is trying to evoke the shapeshifting feelings humans have in something as stationary as a single recording. The juxtaposition brought by ever changing emotions colliding with seemingly stable reality isn’t easy to convey with instruments—real or electronic. Mark’s having trouble finding what synth sound fits the idea he has in mind. He soon comes to the conclusion that he’ll probably have to modify the vibrato and tuning for an old patch to simulate the waves of joy he wants to add in the background against the harsh tick from the repeating stationary hi-hat riff. It only means more work on his part.

 

With all these changes in the instrumentation since the original draft of the song performed all those months ago, the rough choreography NCT created has been modified so many times Mark is almost apologetic that he keeps changing small rhythms here and there that the steps have to be redone. The members don’t seem bothered by it, not to his face at least, so Mark figures it’s a sacrifice well made.

 

They don’t record the music video until about a week or so later, taking out Friday evening to go to a local beach and record candid shots with a chilling fall sunset backdrop. Mark sits off to the side and watches his friends prance around in the sand, splashing each other with water as they laugh between themselves. The majority of Mark’s shots and some of Taeyong’s too will be taken over the weekend in the urban cityscape so he gets the day off to think and ponder over his group’s first official EP release. His brain probably would have spent more time worrying about if _Mad City_ is good enough for this album if he hadn’t heard familiar laughter from a little ways down.

 

“Mark!” calls Chenle as he bounds toward the other man with a smile on his face. His brown hair sways in the gentle breeze and Mark feels calmness wash over him in turn. “I didn’t know you were going to be here. You should have come by the house and told us; I would have told Mom and Dad to stay away and come back another day.”

 

Panic consumes Mark in a hurry. “Is Yukhei here? I told him he couldn’t see a thing about the music video yet.”

 

Chenle laughs as he plops down beside Mark. “Yukhei is in Tokyo right now, dummy. He said so last night during dinner. You were there, right? I don’t remember. Anyway, he’ll be back on Tuesday I think.”

 

“Oh,” sighs Mark, unsure why he’s disappointed even though Yukhei not being here is good for the surprise. “I’ll miss him.”

 

“You barely see him in the first place.”

 

Something about Chenle’s words strikes Mark a little too hard in the chest and he feels his cheeks blush with slight anger. He’s taken aback by Chenle’s words, half ready to retort and explain that he hasn’t been by the house because he’s busy with the album, but he knows that he had plenty of time to just say hello at least. The retort he plans to deliver would be half-assed and unbelievable and probably cause more damage than Mark’s already caused. He can tell Chenle is slightly angry by his disappearance and he wasn’t at dinner last night so he didn’t know Yukhei was leaving the country for a few days and Yukhei didn’t even tell him—wait.

 

Mark grits at his teeth and takes out his phone, turning notifications back on (it’s been off for hours while recording) and seeing a few texts from Yukhei.

 

_one great thing about being in america was that you were always there with me. maybe i’m being selfish or greedy but i miss that…you being here. but i know you are busy as am i!!_

 

_im going to japan for a couple days because of school no worries i’ll be back before the great costume day~ text me when u can!! my uncle misses your witty english puns btw_

 

_im abt to board the plane now , will land soon but do go visit the family while im gone. i think my aunt will be making watermelon ice cream over the weekend. that’s ur fave right haha i told her it was so go visit!! ttyl baby mwah~_

 

Mark feels a lump in his throat and he runs over to his bandmates with wet eyes and apologizes for the sudden interruption. He isn’t one for crying, definitely not publicly, so Sicheng and Yuta are concerned but Chenle reassures them that Mark’s just coming over for dinner while Yukhei is out of town.

 

The watermelon ice cream is delicious and the group spends Saturday and Sunday recording the rest of the music video in Seoul eating away at the Zhong family ice cream between warm sun filled bustling city takes.

 

(Yukhei though is surprised when he goes to his apartment after his flight and finds Mark asleep at the kitchen table, one earphone in his ear, the other in his tiny fist. His hair falls messily against his closed eyes, lips slightly parted for breath and Yukhei decides to take a few pictures and a video for sentimentality’s sake. He doesn’t wake Mark up; only closes the laptop lid and kisses his boyfriend on the forehead before making his way to his bedroom to pack up his clothing and goods.

 

Some time in the night Mark wakes up and relocates himself into Yukhei’s arms. All is well in the night as he snuggles against the sleeping man and finds comfort in the familiar embrace.)

 

* * *

 

“Hey,” Mark calls over the phone, placing the device between his cheek and shoulder as he fishes through his backpack for his headphones. Yukhei hums quietly on the other side of the line. “Sorry I had to leave so early in the morning, I hope I didn’t wake you up. Taeyong texted and said he wanted to record some ad libs with me so I figured we do that as soon as possible.”

 

“That’s fine,” the rapper smiles to himself as he hears a long yawn. “I just hope you had a good night.”

 

Mark laughs hoarsely to himself as his eyes throw daggers at the chair he’ll be forced to sit in for the next few hours as he helps record with Taeyong. “Oh, it was a good night.”

 

“Too good?”

 

“A little but I’ll make do.”

 

“I’m sure you can find a seat cushion somewhere even if the studio has it because sitting on your ass for hours in general is painful not because you spent hours last night rid—,”

 

“It’s 7 am.”

 

“And your point?”

 

Mark chuckles. “I’ll talk to you later, I’ve got work to do.”

 

“Okay, Marky. Lemme know if you’re coming over tonight; I’ll have to hide the boys from you until the great reveal.”

 

There’s confusion in Mark’s brain for a good two hours after the end of the call, most thoughts focused on Taeyong with a couple stray ones locked on Yukhei and the so called _great reveal_. It’s only when Jaehyun and Donghyuck join the recording session respectively in Wendy and Tinkerbell costumes that Mark realizes the date. He winces as he questions if he can even come visit tonight and Donghyuck snickers behind him, asking if he slept well last night.

 

Mark flips him off as Sicheng and Jungwoo enter in fanciful vampire fits. “It’s 10 and Mark is flipping off Haechan already,” laughs Jungwoo as he takes a seat beside Jaehyun. “Have Taeil and Johnny come by yet? I didn’t see Johnny’s car out front.”

 

“I haven’t seen them either,” replies a distracted Mark, staring at his phone with a list of tasks to complete, wondering how many he can push over to the next day in order to make it out to Yukhei and the kids. “Hey, do you guys think you can record the harmonies for _0 Mile_ as soon as possible today? If not tomorrow works too.”

 

“We’ll work as fast but as best as we can to make sure tonight is free for everyone,” explains Yuta with a warm smile. “We deserve a day of fun after all the work we’ve put into this EP.”

 

The group works as fast as they can but the sun is setting by the time Johnny has finished editing the filter and framing for the music video. He’s still piecing together parts with the song and lining up candids and focus points with the corresponding parts in the song, Mark helping as best he can while the others start packing up. Jungwoo watches for a bit before leaving with Sicheng and Jaehyun, who drags Taeyong along with him despite his avid protests.

 

It’s Johnny who demands for Mark to gather his goods and go meet Yukhei and the kids before they go trick-or-treating. “You called them your family just the other week,” Johnny says with that warm comforting smile of his as he looks over at Mark from his desktop screen. “I know it’s only Halloween and it’s pretty much just a reason for businesses to earn money with cosplay and candy profits,” Mark laughs here, “but it’s a fun time spent enjoying the neighborhood with loved ones if nothing else. You deserve that.”

 

“So do you.”

 

“I know and I know _I_ will make sure I do but I’m not sure if you will for yourself.”

 

Mark feels like he’s being reprimanded and rubs at the back of his neck. “I will, I promise. I just want to make sure this EP is good enough. That our title track is good enough. That the music video is good enough.”

 

“I don’t know what—or who maybe—this needs to be good enough for outside of us and I can definitely say, we all are so proud of this album.” Johnny puts the desktop screen to sleep in order to give the young rapper his full undivided attention. “If the what is about grades from your professors, don’t worry about it. This isn’t for them even if you include it in your semester portfolio. This is for NCT. If the who is about Yukhei, worry even less. You know he’ll love whatever you release because it’s something _you_ put your blood, sweat and tears into.”

 

Mark nods with a small smile. “Thank you, Johnny. I think I needed that.”

 

“I know you needed that.” Johnny wakes the monitor up with small movements of the mouse on the mousepad. “Now go and get your mans before he _yeets_ his way down the block with those rascals.”

 

A groan crawls its way from Mark’s throat. “I thought you said you would stop using that word so casually in speech.”

 

Johnny grins. “Ever since Jisung asked you what a _yeet_ is while we were at your cousin’s place in LA and you said it was _skedaddling_ , I promised myself to never let that word go.”

 

Jaemin had replied to Mark’s reply ( _oh, it’s kind of when you skedaddle your way out of a situation_ ) with “We’re Chinese Korean not American-influenced Canadian, what the hell is a skedaddle,” which sent NCT into fits of uncontrollable laughter to Mark’s embarrassment. Johnny, ever one to keep track of all the moments he can embarrass Mark—hell, he still won’t let go of Mark slapping Yukhei’s ass at first greeting, would of course be the one to bring that back.

 

Mark waves goodbye with laughter on his tongue, taking out his phone to text Yukhei and let him know he was making his way over. Yukhei is quick to call in response.

 

“We’re actually about to make our way down the block,” Yukhei relays with a smile in his voice. “Jisung is getting antsy and Jaemin wants to meet up with Jeno for the walk.”

 

“I’ll be there as soon as possible, tell Jisung to wait, like, 10 minutes. I’m getting a cab and I’ll be right over.”

 

Mark rushes over and all would be perfect except the fact that when he arrives at the Zhong residence, he remembers he’s the only one not dressed up in costume. Mark, dressed in ripped black skinny jeans and a baggy white t-shirt, absolutely does not fit in with the intricate costume designs the others are wearing. Yukhei, whose white blouse has two buttons undone at the top, wears a crown atop his head, bangs curled against his forehead, eye liner and eyeshadow dressed across his lids with lip gloss on his lips. He’s glowing in a princely manner and Mark feels really lucky to call a man as gorgeous as Yukhei his boyfriend. Chenle is dressed in some industrial fashion take on a seagull, Jisung as a flounder fish and Jaemin as a crab. It doesn’t take long for Mark to piece together that the four are Prince Eric, Scuttle, Flounder, and Sebastian from _The Little Mermaid_.

 

“Mark, you aren’t dressed up,” whines Jisung with a soft pout.

 

“I didn’t even know what theme you guys were gonna have anyway.”

 

“You can be Ariel recently in her human form,” Yukhei pats Mark’s head with a smile as if he’d found the solution to all the world’s problems. “You’ve got the hair for it anyway.”

 

* * *

 

Yukhei and Mark hang back behind the kids, fingers twined as they walk side by side. It’s comforting to be with Yukhei again after hours going between school and the various studios with little break. The taller man is more clingy than usual, intent on keeping Mark by his side. Jisung and Chenle run ahead toward a haunted house they had decided to meet Jeno at, Jaemin yelling after them. “Wait for me; you can’t forget Sebastian! That’s the only reason why you two don’t look like random sea creatures!”

 

Mark and Yukhei wait for the kids at the exit, the former resting his head on the latter’s shoulder as they patiently wait. Johnny’s words about family echo through Mark’s head as he watches Chenle and Jisung screech their way out the haunted house, clinging to Mark’s legs as an unscathed Jaemin waltzes his way out with a smirk and Jeno in some shell shocked form beside him.

 

“Renjun would cry in there,” shares Jaemin as they continue down the way, “He believes in ghosts and aliens and would probably think they are actually in that house.”

 

“The zombie was really scary,” Jisung holds onto Mark’s Yukhei-less hand as tight as possible. “I thought he was going to eat me and then I’d never see Mark or Hei again!”

 

The kids recover from their scare pretty quickly though at the prospect of more candy down the lane. The quintet return to the Zhong residence once the kids’ bags are overflowing with candy and the night is getting too deep to stay out much longer. Back at the house, the three kids start counting and sorting out through their candy with excitement. Mark realizes he hadn’t spent his Halloween last year with the kids, instead going to some Halloween party with Donghyuck and Ten, so this is his first time hanging out with them.

 

Yukhei plops onto the couch and pulls Mark into his arms, kissing his neck with a low murmur of _thank you_ against Mark’s skin. Mark turns to face his boyfriend, eyebrows raised but finds the most loving smile he’s ever seen on Yukhei’s face and loses all train of thought. He kisses the smile from Yukhei’s lips and only turns back to the kids because Jisung struggles to count to 74 in Korean.

 

Mark relays the number to Jisung with ease and turns back to Yukhei, who is gazing at him with awe. “What is it?”

 

“You’re so smart.”

 

He scoffs. “It’s just a number.”

 

“A number that represents the millions of times I’m going to watch your music video when it drops.”

 

Bashfulness consumes Mark with a sly quickness and he’s not eager to let it show much longer so he rushes in for a messy mostly teeth kiss to hide his face and get Yukhei to hush. Yukhei laughs into the kiss but grabs Mark’s face to pull him close, losing to Mark’s touch when Mark himself wraps his hands around Yukhei’s wrist to indulge himself. It’s been a little while since they shared a long gentle kiss like this not wrapped up in lust and sheets. A simple but meaningful kiss that carries all the loving emotions it possible can through the press of lips and taste of candy-tinted twining tongues. Mark misses kissing Yukhei deeply with such casualness, halfway on Yukhei’s lap before Jaemin screeches about publicly indecency.

 

Mark and Yukhei both pull away laughing and Mark gets up to chase Jaemin around, teasing him about his mushy texts with Renjun in turn.

 

(Mark doesn’t actually know if Jaemin has any incriminating evidence proving such mushy texts but he’s adamant his phone stay out of Mark’s hands during the run, so Mark supposes that’s enough.)

 

Yukhei captures all of this on his phone, smiling to himself as he composes a new message to send to a group chat.

 

[ ncity ]

 

**yuckhei** : _mark is so happy to be here just look at him chasing the kids around haha! thank you all for convincing him to come over~ i was really worried he wasn’t gonna come and the kids were getting down…so seriously, thank you all for being such great friends to him!_

 

**thank you** : _no problem! i’m glad he’s happy. a happy marky pumpkin is a happy us!_

 

**bunnyong** : _can i tell him i got this video from you when i use it as blackmail material later and by later i mean now_

 

**johnald** : _yeh same_

 

**yuckhei** : well _…who else could have sent it to you_

 

**junguwu** : _true_

 

**yuckhei** : _:P take care tonight guys and do your worst with the video!! congratulations on the ep and most of all, happy halloween!_

 

 

“Yukhei!”

 

The young man looks up from his phone to Mark’s narrowed gaze pointed directly at him, phone in hand as Chenle and Jaemin roll around on the floor in peals of laughter. Jisung is cackling on the couch as he holds his stomach from laughing so hard. Yukhei doesn’t know what the NCT members may have sent Mark—maybe some distorted and pitched version of the original video, who knows—but he has to say Mark’s fake anger is worth seeing his cousins so happy thanks to Mark’s presence in the house.

 

There’s only one thought on Yukhei’s mind as he evades Mark’s attacks, a line from that song in San Diego that rings true every time Mark hangs out with the kids and Yukhei.

 

_hope we always feel like home._

 

**Author's Note:**

> again thank you all for the positive responses to this au !! i really appreciate it~


End file.
